


The devils inside us all

by Lamorakon



Category: Da Vinci's Demons, Lemegeton - Fandom, The Demon's Lexicon - Sarah Rees Brennan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Demons, Multi, Mystery, Original Fiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-12
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-08 19:34:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 19,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17392379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lamorakon/pseuds/Lamorakon
Summary: We all think that we do good... That we fight evil, for the benefit of the masses... That we ourselves are good and anyone that tries to disrupt order are naturally bad...? But... why do we think that? What if... we were completely wrong?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am not a native English speaker, so please forgive me if there are some weird compositions! Please read and put up some constructive criticism, thank you!

“Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!” A robotic voice rained down upon me. I grunted and blindly grasped above me. I sighed when I heard something tumbling down, silencing the irritating source of noise effectively. I grunted and turned around, covering my face with the soft, black blankets. But I knew it was futile. Harsh sunrays were already shining through cracks of the blinds hanging in front of my windows. I sighed and threw a cushion towards the light, hoping to keep the darkness in my room from escaping through the small crack... I grunted and quickly shuffled under my blankets as the crack only got bigger! My whole room was now bathed in a meek yellow light. I tried pushing my eyes shut, but nothing helped to keep my peaceful slumber with me... After 10 minutes, I finally gave in to the light filling my room. With a tired sigh , I pushed my blankets far away, letting them on the ground. I scratched my head , putting my feet on the cold floor. I shivered slightly before pushing myself to my feet. I stepped forward, feeling the floor slide away from underneath me. My arms flopped wildly around me as I crashed on the hard floor. A book landed right in my poor nose! My eyes got filled by tears as I strongly rubbed my nose to dull the pain. I read the title of the book through my watery eyes. "Demonology for noobs"...I sighed. Late-night reading really isn't good for your health...certainly not for the health of your nose! I stuffed the book into my already full bedside drawer before stumbling into the bathroom.

I flipped on the light and dumbly stared into my mirror image, who stared as dumb back at me. I looked like a wreck... I rubbed in my eyes before grabbing a washcloth and flipping the tap on. I shivered, feeling ice cold water stream all over my hands. The boiler was broken. Again! I dropped my head in defeat and just used the cold water to snap me out of my slumber-induced state. I grunted loudly, feeling the ice cold liquid bite into my face before I blindly felt if I had a towel nearby. I finally found one, pushing 3 bottles of soap, my toothbrush and a glass I used to drink on the ground. I blinked a couple of times before grumbling. This was going to be that kind of day, won't it? I quickly put on a comfortable shirt and pants before cleaning the shards of the broken glass and dumping them in the bin in the corner. I blankly stared into my mirror image again, seeing my ruffled hair and ice-blue eyes stare back right into mine.

‘Julian, are you ready for another boring day?’ I said to myself, before stepping out of the bathroom. 

I walked down the stairs, careful not to fall flat on my face again. Socks and slippery wood really do not go well together. I unlocked the door to my office and fell into my working chair. I quickly put my fingers through the copper loops of my computer and saw the black letters appear on the glass. I was really grateful for this new model of computer the university gave me when I finished my studies! The glass was used as a screen, the letters getting projected on the glass...I grabbed at a small copper stick and moved it around, seeing a white little hand move all over the glass.. I looked at the button that represented my mail, hoping that I had received any messages of potential clients seeking a private detective...  
And I did! I felt my heart jump up a bit when I saw the red number hovering above the symbol of my mail. But my heart got quickly buried when I read it were only bills to pay and other boring things. I groaned as I knew my money was running out... They never teach you how to be an adult at school, which sucks! I grunted, feeling myself getting depressed more and more as I read through the bills. I shook my head before quickly shutting off my computer. I scratched my throat before walking out of my office and looked into my meagre wallet. I counted the money and saw that I had still enough for feeding myself for two days before I had to access my poor bank account...

I was happy I could eat today, so I grabbed my shoes and quickly stepped into them. I put on my long, black coat that I got for my eighteenth birthday from the orphanage I grew up in. That was all they could give me, along with the basic starting loan every budding adult got from the government. While the long, thick coat fell over my body, I could hear the comments of my classmates in university, far into my mind. "Look, it's the assassin again..." "Really...he looks like a killer freak, right?". I sighed, remembering those days all too well. But .. I didn't care what they say about me! The only thing that mattered to me was that I was feeling good in the pieces of clothing I wore! The rest was not really important for me. I turned the copper knob and stepped outside, shielding my eyes from the harsh sunlight shining down on me. I groaned, letting the door fall shut behind me and then locked it. A warm summer breeze played with the leaves of some nearby trees as I walked towards my favourite spot to eat breakfast! I heard old creaking noises right above me, seeing the old hand-made sign of my detective agency sway in the breeze. "Julian's detective agency"... I groaned, knowing it was a terrible name. But I really couldn't think of anything else at that moment! Besides, it was not like anyone would come to this place, being located in a backstreet alley and all... But it was more likely the more popular agency in the centre of the city was just usurping all clients! I stopped, looking at the neat and big building right in front of me. It was grand and richly decorated with flowers and stone statues. I heard that even the king approved of this agency... Which is not good for my business! 

“We’ll solve all of your mysteries right here at Regal and co.!. I sighed and glared at the big building. People ran in and out, and I could even see some detectives sitting behind the windows. Soon, there would be a long line forming right in front of that gaudy door. Now, I’m not really the jealous type, but the lack of clients really began to hurt my poor wallet. . Soon, I needed clients or else… 

I sighed. I shook my head when I walked into my favourite place for breakfast. It was a small place, but their pancakes were delicious and their self-made blueberry oil was even better. Silky-smooth, quite sweet and with a delicious aftertaste as well! The dark blue colour might put you off at first, but once you’ve had it, you never want something else! I sat down and began devouring my breakfast. I shamefully thought about the previous day, where I actually forgot to have dinner. I was too engrossed in one of my books to notice the time... I sighed when I thought of the uneventful day that was awaiting me at my office. So, to clear my mind, I decided to take a detour towards the city's central plaza. 

‘Maybe I should read in those books about magic I recently bought…Hmm…’ Despite my admittingly scruffy looks, I am an avid reader of books handling the occult and magic things. Mostly history books, but also demonology books and classification books talking about all kinds of magic. Apparently, magic was abundant in the land I live in, but it mysteriously disappeared 10 000 years ago. Now, there is a rumour circulating that there was another way of acquiring magic, a way that apparently hasn’t died down… But there wasn’t a shred of evidence that way has even existed! So I just dismissed as a load of gossip and just kept reading to sate my curiosity for now.  
While I was contemplating this, I noticed a big hole to my right side. 5 massive streams of water fell down into its immeasurable depths. The abyss, as most people called it, was something that researchers were still arguing about although it was here before we even existed! It really was a massive hole, seeing that the people on the other side were really small. Big encryptions were carved into its moss-covered walls, and no one knew what they meant! People had tried to decipher them, but they didn't make any sense... People tried descending into the Abyss but... They never came back. Three teams had already disappeared in its depths, no clue where they could have gone. 2 years ago, the government let a bridge be built over the hole. They said it was to cover up its ugliness, but there were rumours floating around that they just wanted to cover up their own failures...I made sure to keep a good space away from the steel railing. Heights really weren't my thing... I looked at the public clocks , strung to a pole to my left and saw that it was already an hour past my opening time. While I didn't expect anyone to come seeking my aid, that was no reason to go open late! I turned around, my coat waving behind me as I took the shortest route back home.

When I entered my street, I heard a faint scratching. Nails on wood.. A jagged breathing complemented the weird sounds...I looked around. I looked at the nearby trees, thinking someone has lost their mind and tries to fell a tree with their own bare hands. But nobody was even close to the bark of the trees. I closed my eyes and tried drowning out all other noise. Slowly , the sounds of cards, people walking and talking and the occasional airship all faded into a dull humming sound at the back of my mind. I focused a bit more, making the weird sound echo in my mind and hearing it more clearer now... I frowned as I tried pinpointing the location of the noise. It came from someplace in front of me...to my left... I opened my eyes again and looked in that direction. What I saw surprised me, to say the least. I saw a distraught woman, her hair filthy and her clothes dirty. She had bags underneath her eyes and tears streamed down her dirty cheeks. Her long skirt was ripped in several spaces, spaces that somebody tried to patch up themselves. Her broken nails were still scratching something right in front of her. Blood came from her left index finger, the nails been broken off earlier. How long did she try to murder that piece of wood? That's when I noticed a peculiar sign sway right above her head. It took me some seconds to realize I knew that sign way too good...

‘Hey, stop scratching my door!’ I yelled and dashed forward. The woman gasped loudly and turned around, looking dazed. I quickly grabbed her hands, effectively stopping her ravaging my door. I stared right into her emerald-green eyes. The area around them was red, as tears continued to stream down her cheeks. She looked absolutely terrified as she gazed into my ice-cold eyes. I grunted before looking away. I sucked at doing interrogations and looking strict-like. I sighed and felt the force behind her arms slowly slip away. The woman's eyes slowly fell shut as her knees gave out underneath her. I was too slow to catch her as she dropped on the hard concrete. I gasped and quickly checked her pulse. She was still alive and breathing but... I saw the outline of her jaw. Very clearly. This woman had not eaten in the last three days, at least! I quickly looked around, contemplating what I should do. I could call the hospital but then again... I thought with disgust about the law they passed just 5 months ago... There was no place in hospitals for people that didn't live in the main city, due to the government being afraid that they would spread diseases among other patients. I scoffed at the notion! They were people, just like the rest of us!  
I grunted and quickly unlocked the door to my house before gently and carefully lifted the woman into my arms. I made sure that I didn't hurt her or touch her on any weird places... I groaned and slowly carried her inside before gently dropping her into my sofa. I closed the door after that and walked into my kitchen. I really didn't have that much anymore, tomorrow would be my shopping day! I grabbed some dry biscuits, water and some cranberry jam before returning to her. I also prepared some tea, her cheeks felt really cold... I grabbed a blanket and gently covered her with it before sitting in front of her. I grabbed a book and began reading through it, waiting for the woman to awaken. 5 hours later, she finally did. She slowly stirred before opening her emerald-green eyes. She gasped and quickly looked around, seeing an unfamiliar area... Suddenly, she saw me with the book in my hands and quickly backed away.

"Relax, Miss. I am not going to hurt you... How are you feeling?" I began, my voice shaking from nervousness. I … actually never talked to a girl face-to-face alone... The woman grunted and held her head, which apparently hurt a lot. I ticked my index finger on the platter with food. She gazed once at me before hastily grasping at the biscuits and water before scuffling back as far as she could. I just watched her. I learned on university that was sometimes the best approach. I smiled, seeing she began quickly devouring the biscuits, followed by decimating the bottle of water. She gulped down before coughing and spewing out some of it. I groaned. That was going to be cleaning-duty again...And I just cleaned yesterday! I shrugged my shoulders, waiting until she was done eating to ask my next question.

"So ...Uhm...Yeah... Who are you?" I weakly asked while seeing her shuffle back into the couch. The woman gazed suspiciously at me while grasping the blanket really tightly. I could see her knuckles getting white underneath the tiny layer of flesh covering them. Then, a hoarse sound. I raised my right eyebrow as I focused on the sound again. After four times, I could make out a name. Amelia. That was her name, apparently. I scratched my head, seeing her dive to the tea and greedily swallow it. She yelled, feeling her tongue getting burned by the hot liquid. I snickered slightly before waving slightly with my hands. She really was famished, wasn't she ? I smiled, seeing her devour the biscuits and swallow the water in a short amount of time.

"Well, Miss Amelia... Would you... be so kind as to explain... why you were trying to massacre my door...?" I asked, pointing to the ravaged door. The woman looked at the spot I pointed at for just a second before gasping loudly. Her eyes went wide as I saw her hands getting tense again. Her eyes stared right in front of her as her breathing began rapidly increasing, her chest raising and falling faster and faster. I raised my left eyebrow before slowly moving towards her, in case something went really wrong... She began nervously looking around the room, presumably seeking for something. Her eyes stared right into mine. I saw her fear, her uncertainty and the urgency to... find something. I kept calm and didn't say anything, afraid to make it worse, whatever she was doing. Tears slowly rolled down her cheeks, her body too tired to react fully on it. She started screaming and closed her eyes. Amelia held her head tightly between her arms as she continued screaming. Her nails started digging into her dirty skin, drawing blood. At that moment, I grabbed her wrists and forced them away from her delicate skin. It felt wrong to force a lady but this was really necessary to protect her in my mind. Her scream cut straight into my soul. I shivered, hearing them echo in my head as she continued to scream loudly in despair. Trickles of blood mingled with her salty tears as her screams slowly died out. Her high-pitched breathing slowly calmed back down again before her arms hung around her body, powerless. I felt like I could let her go now, and slowly returned to my place. I needed to be careful…

“Well… Okay… What… are you doing here then?” I asked carefully, testing the words in my mind before letting them leave my mind. I tried to calm her with some soothing hand movements as I saw Amelia shiver when she thought about the answer. Slowly, her coarse voice echoed between the four walls surrounding us. I focused really hard, and after some errors, I could slowly make out her story.  
Apparently, she had travelled for five days straight: two days on foot, three days by Rexail. I nodded, knowing that the new machines were getting quite popular and began connecting the main city with all kinds of outskirts throughout the country. She continued, sobbing throughout it all. She sought a detective to investigate a recent string of murders in the small village called Vagron. I frowned as I walked towards my computer. I began quickly putting my fingers through the loops before a map of the country popped up. I searched for a bit, finding the village after three minutes of looking. It was a really small dot on the map, not even 5 miles from the border! I scratched my head and nodded before walking back to the shivering lady. She looked at me with fear in her eyes, like she was afraid of something… I peacefully put my hands in the air and landed back into the chair. But something was bothering me…

“Why didn’t you go to the big office near the entrance of the city?” I asked, tapping my elbow as I thought about that. It didn’t make sense… While I was happy she landed on my doorstep, it would’ve made way more sense that she stepped inside the office of Regal and Co.! They were way more famous and would be anyone’s first choice, as much as I hate to admit it… But what Amelia said next chilled every part of that reasoning.  
“They refused me…Said that they couldn’t make a profit out of me…” She said clutching around her chest as she recalled how she felt when she heard those words echo inside her mind. Her world seemed to crumble from underneath her feet. She didn’t know any other detectives she could enlist for helping her… She heard the man behind the counter laugh at her misery before pointing down the street. She vaguely heard something about another detective, hidden deep in the city. His last words were his laughs, seemingly having not a high expectation of the detective working there. Her field of view went hazy as she bumped against several people on her way out, stumbling over her own feet. 

After 5 hours, she finally found my office but she became desperate when she didn’t hear anyone responding her calls. I knew the rest all too well… I rubbed my temples slowly before standing up and pointing at my office. I walked towards the door, holding it open to her. I waved her inside with a gentle smile on my face. 

“Come in, Amelia! I will take your case!” I announced. I didn’t know anything about the murders but I didn’t care at that moment. My very first case, a case that even Regal hasn’t seen yet! I smiled and fell into my comfortable chair before beginning to type a new case file the fidgety woman sitting right in front of me. I sighed and rubbed my eyes before continuing my typing. Name, age , date and request details were all filled in a scrambled template before I turned my attention back towards Amelia. I folded my arms together and heard the case… With every sentence, the task seemed to get increasingly difficult! Seemingly, there had been several murders all over in Vagron. The villagers didn’t have any money to hire any detectives… Until now. They collected every bronze coin they had and send one of them to the main city to search out a detective… Amelia. And now she sat here, right in front of me. I nodded slowly before rubbing my temples. From what I have heard of the case, it seemed like just random numbers without any connection… I sighed and nodded to myself. Better than nothing, I thought. 

“Okay, I take your case! However, I can’t leave my office today, I shall depart tomorrow and… What is that in your hand, Amelia…?” I looked down towards her right hand, seeing it clutched around something. The brown-haired woman gasped and clasped her hand even tighter as a tear rolled over her cheek. I frowned as I saw just the smallest glint of copper reflect in the sunlight shining through the windows behind her. It seemed to be …a watch of some kind…? Amelia sniffled as she slowly revealed the thing in her hands. It was a copper medallion. I wanted to touch it but she pulled it back immediately and looked hurt. I sighed and quickly retracted my arm. She turned a small wheel on the top of the medallion, clicking it open. I leaned forward to take a small peek inside the medallion. It showed a smiling man and woman, the man lovingly kissing the woman on the cheek. I smiled and nodded, looking at Amelia.

‘Who's the gentleman beside you, Amelia? Your husband?’ I really shouldn't have said that. From the moment those tones left my lips, Amelia sniffled before tumbling into an incontrollable sobbing. Tears flowed once again as her screams of agony and grief filled the room. It took her almost twenty minutes to calm herself down again. I lowered my head in shame. I should've thought more carefully about this... 

‘I-I'm sorry... I-I didn't...’ I began stuttering. This was not at all the direction I wanted to go. I grunted and scratched my head, feeling my cheeks heat up in embarrassment. When I wanted to continue, a single word from her silenced me. 

‘... Victim’ 

‘Excuse me?’ I was sure I misunderstood her. I pushed my finger in my ear, ensuring nothing blocked my hearing before she repeated it again. 

‘He was... is... the latest...victim...’ Amelia stuttered, her mouth wretched in a sad, tortured expression when she remembered the night she found him... Her eyes filled themselves with tears as she returned from a day of work in the local inn. The moon shone brightly that night, and Amelia giggled when she stepped inside her home. She was really surprised when she found the living completely dark. She lighted some candles on her way to the kitchen. 

'Darling?'

She continued looking for him on the ground floor, but he was nowhere to be found! She thought he had a rough workday and went to bed soon. So she decided to join him. She walked carefully on the wooden staircase. The fresh couple build it themselves. Amelia revelled in those memories so much that she didn't notice the dark stain covering a good part of the stairs. The flickering candlelight threw dancing shadows on the milky white walls of the central corridor of their meagre house. Amelia slowly pushed the door to the bedroom open, noticing the dirty spots on the wooden handle. When the door creaked open, the candle she was holding tumbled unto the floor. She felt her knees getting weak before she fell unto the floor. She tried to scream, but nothing left her mouth. Countless, cold hands grabbed hold of her body and soul, making her shiver uncontrollably.

Blood. That was the only thing that entered her sight, and three holes in her husband's chest... His eyes were closed. That was the only thing she remembered, the rest was a whirlwind of darkness and screaming voices. The girl screaming right in front of me as she remembered that night. I looked at her, getting uncomfortable. This was not good! If she continued to do this, she would push herself into a downward spiral of her own negative imagination! I bit my lip, trying to think of a solution. The only thing that came to me was diverting her attention from her thoughts to me and the present.

‘H-He …was...?’ I repeated for myself, but Amelia, being stressed and infuriated by my tactlessness stopped me from saying anything. She stopped screaming and looked at me with a gaze that could easily kill! Tears rolled down her face, unable to get cleaned with the rag she used as a tissue. Amelia bit her lip, drawing blood in her anger and distress as she jumped upwards, the chair I prepared for her clattering on the ground.

‘Yeah, he is the latest victim!’ She screamed before turning around and storming out of my office. She rammed the door open and dashed through the street, leaving me baffled in her wake. I couldn't have stopped her, and if I wanted to, I wouldn't have done it. I lowered my head in shame, hearing the door clatter shut as the woman stormed out of the door, hearing her screams and cries ring for a long time in my head. I stared at the humming computer screen with the black letters for more than half an hour. After that, I made a decision.  
I grabbed an electronic sign I found at a second-hand shop and begin pushing it’s big buttons. After a bit of fiddling and grunting, I managed to make the letters appear on the milky white screen. I smiled at the message before shoving it in front of my window, in a glass box for everyone to see.

“I am not in the office for some time. Any urgent messages can be resend at Vagron!” It said. I grunted and scratched my head before heading upstairs and grabbing an old leather suitcase from underneath my bed. I threw some clothes in there as well as some books and some materials to write on. One of those things was a book with silky sheets in it. It was something that every detective got when they finished their studies. When someone wrote something on them, they would dissolve and appear quite quickly in someone’s lap! It was some kind of express messaging system! It was even faster than mail and much more efficient! I smiled and ruffled my hair while staring through the window, preparing myself for the journey ahead. To the village Vagron…and to my first real case!


	2. Taking the Rexail

The next day, I prepared my suitcase. I dumped half of my drawer into it without looking at the clothes in too much detail. I grunted, jumping a couple of times on my suitcase, ensuring it could get zipped shut. I puffed and grunted, trying to get the damned thing shut. Finally, I succeeded and zipped it shut. I waved the sweat from my forehead and stepped outside. 

I felt a cold winter breeze brush my cheeks, causing me to shiver. I decided to visit a weapon shop first. I was nowhere near something resembling a fighter…but you never know, right? I stepped inside the musky smelling shop and began browsing through their wares. Guns…guns…handguns…shotguns… I scoffed at seeing the bend pieces of metal on their mahogany wooden displays. While the invention of guns really eased the military training (or so I’ve heard, I’ve never been interested in that kind of stuff…) , I only wondered if this would really bring peace to anyone. I turned my head away from the silvery nozzles of the weapons and saw a small corners, just bulging with swords…and spears…crossbows too! I smiled and walked over, inspecting the classic weapons. I was happy that I found them….I was not so happy when I saw the price tags… I could almost feel the lightness of my pockets when saw the numbers quickly run into thousands. I sighed and wanted to turn away, but I caught a more…reasonable price tag, just in the corner of my left eye. I pushed some swords out of the way, and dodged a falling spear just barely before I got to pull the tag.   
…It was a sword alright…But…Not really the bargain I would’ve wanted…I could see some rust along the edges and ,after putting my fingers on the edge, I also noticed it wasn’t the sharpest either. However, it wasn’t that bad for its price.

‘Beggars can’t be choosers, I suppose..’ I sighed, shrugging my shoulders before moving on to the counter and back outside. I stopped on the way by my favourite place for breakfast before moving on to my house and the Rexail-station afterwards. I stepped inside the newly-renovated station and looked on the notice board when my Rexail would arrive. I had ten minutes to get to the platform I should be. When i arrived there, I just saw a Rexail glide out the station. Its green wheels turned to the ground, rotating faster and faster. The black metal began humming, glowing green as it began floating above the earth. The huge metal construction began to slowly glide out of the station, speeding up as it disappeared behind the horizon. I scratched my head. Rexails had been invented just 2 years ago, yet were already such a part of our everyday life! 

I grunted, knowing I had a long ride ahead of me. I first had to travel to the outer skirts of the country, before taking a horse carriage to my destination. I sighed and took peace with the fact that I won’t be arriving before the sun went down… A loud beeping noise echoing throughout the station accompanied the next Rexail to arrive. It calmly glided along the platform before coming to a standstill. Many people leapt of the Rexail, making room for the people who jumped on it. I was one of the last people to jump in. This was my first time riding one of these machines, so I was quite amazed at the tidy interior design! It was rather classy, yet without all the gaudy edges to it. And my ticket wasn’t at all expensive, which I loved! 

I took my place at the end of the long line of carriages, sitting down. I rubbed the soft leather of the seats. While it wasn’t super soft, it was still more than decent. I looked down at my wrist, and began turning the gears on my watch. It was a gift from the orphanage for my 18th birthday, to celebrate me becoming a responsible adult. Well….responsible…My Rexail of thought was cut short as I felt someone poking my right arm. I looked up, seeing a moustached man looking down at me. He grunted and showed his right hand, apparently waiting for something…

‘Sorry, I don’t give to beggars!’ I tried to shut him off. I am not a greedy person, it’s just….well, I don’t have that much to give in the first place! The man grunted, his eyes closing to only small slits. His face turned red as he heard other passengers snicker around him. He was losing face, and quick!

‘The gentleman here has never ridden a Rexail, I see! Ticket , now!’ He replied agitated, his face getting more red by the second. I stiffened up and slowly nodded, giving the man my ticket. He stared at for a bit, checking something peculiar in the bottom right hand corner. A mysterious smirk appeared on his face before he turned to the other passengers. He triumphantly put my ticket high in the air, causing me to frown my eyebrows. Why was he so happy about my ticket? The other people turned around, and that’s when I noticed something was out of place here…. Me. The other passengers were all dressed really ….royally , I suppose you could call it. Beautiful jewels adorned the white-powdered necks of the regal ladies surrounding me, and heavy golden accessories lined the hands of the men. I noticed a distinct artificial perfume flowing throughout the carriage. 

‘I didn’t know mere commoners were allowed in the Noble’s Carriage!’ The ma holding my ticket grinned as he saw the Nobles nod their heads. I had heard that nobles and commoners had some fundamental differences, and that both groups never got along with each other…But some of the faces I saw were not of belittling, but of sheer disgust. I gulped slowly. Now everything fell into place! The fact that the price of the ticket was so low, and that this carriage was luxurious compared to its price! This was not a ‘commoner’s carriage’, but a carriage for the nobles! I gulped and slowly stood up, grabbing my luggage. I glared at the conductor, not happy with the way he tried to humiliate me in front of the nobles. I scoffed at the man and walked past him, causing the scabbard of my sword to poke against his hand. The conductor’s face turned pale when he saw a sword dangling from my hip. 

‘D-Did you want to kill everyone here, you vile murderer?!’ He spat, his trembling finger pointing at the dangling sword. I shrugged my shoulders before digging into my pockets. I grabbed something and clipped it open. It showed a picture of me, alongside with my signature and the signature of the minister of Domestic Affairs. I grunted and pointed at the signatures. 

‘I was under the impression that detectives were allowed to bring weapons whenever they are on a case, or am I wrong, Mr. Conductor?’ Those last words dripped out of my mouth like poison. I looked at the man, his mouth opening and closing but no sound came further than his lips. He only scoffed at me and pointed at the door. ‘The carriage you have a ticket for is two doors away…Now, get out of my sight!’ The conductor yelled before turning his back to me. I was almost sure I saw his moustache tremble out of anger for me. I smirked slowly before I heard a voice sounding right behind me. It was a female voice, sounding from just beside the door. I turned around again, seeing a beautiful blonde woman sitting beside a blonde girl. Seeing their forms, I guessed that they were mother and child. 

‘Now, now, conductor…If I would invite him to sit with me, would that be a problem?’ The woman asked, making the moustached man return on his steps. I saw him preparing a response, but his mouth fell shut the moment he saw the woman. She smiled kindly, but her eyes were dead serious and stared intently at the conductor. I even had to gulp, and she didn’t even look at me! This was clearly a woman you couldn’t mess with, or you would be tremendously sorry! I saw the man beside me gulp his fear away before he politely bowed for the woman. 

‘No, certainly not, Miss Agravata! I guess it isn’t a problem anymore…’ The conductor said, glaring backwards at me. I didn’t react as the gears inside my head started turning. I looked at the luggage above the two ladies. They were both engraved with a silver embroidered mark. Suddenly, it clicked all in my head. This woman was Eleanor Agravata, the President of Ataraxia, the most influential company in the electronical economy! I had heard rumours she was no slouch to deal with, but I didn’t even know she had a daughter! While she wasn’t a noble at all, and she even fought for the commoners, she had the money and the power to be considered one! 

I wanted to speak, but no words came out of my mouth. Veronica waved the conductor away, leaving me alone standing in the hallway. I felt the Rexail slowly raise itself in the air as green lines became visible in the machine’s interior. I saw several nobles looking at me in disgust before they closed their compartments for the ride. Eleanor waved at me before pointing at the seat right in front of her. I gulped and grabbed my luggage with shaking hands. I tried to calm myself and walked slowly towards the blonde lady. Her blue eyes seemed to look straight through me, measuring my worth. When I stood right in front of her, she closed her eyes and smiled gently before pointing at the seat facing her, with a table right between the three of us. Her daughter looked at her mother before slowly looking at me. She looked at me with curious yet judging eyes. It was clear this young lady was not someone you should mess with! I grunted, slowly nodding at Eleanor before pushing my luggage in a baggage compartment and sitting right in front of her. My hands shook nervously as I never… really had a face-to-face talk with a lady before…Let alone two ladies at the same time! Well, not counting Amelia’s talk of yesterday of course! Thankfully, Eleanor saw my nervousness and broke the ice herself.

‘*sigh*…I always hate to be so strict whenever I am on a vacation…’ She sighed and leaned backwards on her comfortable chair. My mouth almost fell open out of sheer surprise. This was almost a whole other personality! Here she was, relaxing on her chair with no care in the world, as she looked at me baffled face. 

‘Oh, please. Don’t look at me like that! I am not like those stuck-up, powdered-up spineless pretentious morons next door!’ She laughed, pointed at the door. I felt my lips slowly curling into a smile as I let out some careful laughs. I nodded ad shuffled, feeling slightly more relaxed. The girl sitting next to Eleanor raised one eyebrow as she looked at me, forcing me to stop laughing. She turned to her mother, her long curly blonde hair waving with her. A distinct fragrance of wild flowers, sweet yet with a classy undertone of bitterness, slowly flowed into my nostrils. 

‘Mother, Look! What father told me about commoners not being able to laugh was true! Look!’ The girl said to her mother, who laughed slightly. I looked at the girl. Who did she study under to get that kind of thoughts about commoners?

‘Fiorella ,darling, not everything what your father tells you is the truth , all right?’ Eleanor answered, a bit repulsive whenever she said the word ‘father’. I racked my brain, but nothing came up that would relate to that. I stiffened up immediately when her eyes looked back at me again. Her red-painted lips curled into a gentle smile when she saw my reactions.

‘Relax. I am not going to report you to the police. And I am not going to strip you of all your money, as other nobles might do, those imbeciles…Tell me, you said earlier you were a detective, correct?’ he handily said, momentarily taking my mind elsewhere. I smiled slowly, my body visibly relaxing as I nodded in return. 

‘Y-Yes, T-That is correct, Miss Agravata!’ I hurriedly replied, stumbling over every syllable in my answer. She smiled before shaking her head. Her daughter laughed with my voice that seemed really high-pitched all of a sudden…

‘No, please call me Eleanor. I hate hearing ‘Miss Agravata’… It makes me feel old, you know?’ There was almost nothing left of her cold, calculating behaviour earlier. I gulped and slowly nodded, not sure how to handle this situation.. I decided to act as normally as I possibly could, while her daughter struggled to keep her laughter inside. Her cheek puffed up as she looked at me, before facing away and letting some giggles escape her mouth. Her mother poked her shoulder gently, as to remind her daughter of her manners. 

‘Fiorella, please show some manners!’ Eleanor reprimanded her daughter, who was trying her hardest to keep her laughter under control. I shook my head, making a calming movement with my left hand. I didn’t really mind Fiorella laughing like that, it was at least better than looking at me in disgust!

‘I-It really isn’t such a big deal, Miss Eleanor… People need to laugh from time to time, am I right?’ I said, smiling gently as Eleanor slowly nodded. She sighed, knowing that the business she was in really didn’t lend itself to being that lenient with smiles. She said I could try and tell that to those stuffy, spineless Nobles next door. I politely declined. One time in the hot seat per day is way more than enough for me, thank you! I wondered what drove Eleanor Agravata, a woman with considerable power and influence in the economical belly of society, to put herself out on behalf of a mere commoner? When I asked her about, she handily wove it away.

‘Oh , you know…I have my reasons…’ And that was the end of that question. What made me even more curious was the interest Eleanor took in the fact I was a detective. While it wasn’t a common profession, it wasn’t THAT rare either. However, that wasn’t the only thing that was… interesting, to say the least. She was also interested in my personal school trajectory, and my background. It was unsettling to say the least. When I asked her why she wanted to know all this, she just flashed me a mysterious smirk. The smirk of someone who knew more than she let on….

‘Oh, being able to grow in life is all about connections, you know that?...Come to think of it, I never asked your name…’ She realized. It was true. She fired an entire barrage of questions about my life, and I was or too weak-willed to fend them off or I just thought it was impolite to ignore a lady’s questions. Maybe both. I hurriedly nodded and tried to bow politely, resulting in me almost ramming my head into the cupboard of the table in front of me. That was the last thing Fiorella could watch before bursting into laughter, giggling and laughing loudly as I carefully rubbed my forehead. Eleanor tried to calm her daughter, trying to remind her of her manners but I shook my head. 

‘I-It really is nothing, Miss Eleanor… My name is Julian, by the way. I am very honoured to meet you!’ I said, stuttering again as I heard Fiorella’s laughter slowly die out. I grunted, feeling my cheeks heat up while the girl slowly calmed herself. I took a look at her… She couldn’t been older than 17 years… I grunted and scratched my throat, my attention focusing back unto Eleanor. She asked some more things before getting interrupted by a knock on the mahogany wooden door. An elegant, male voice sounded behind the delicately decorated wood.

‘Miss Agravata? May we disturb you for just a second to serve your lunch?’ The voice asked before Eleanor responded with a strict ‘Yes, you may enter!’. My eyes went wide once again, seeing Eleanor Agravata seamlessly switching from her warm attitude to her cold, calculating demeanour. The lock on the door was undone before it rolled open, almost without a sound. The bellboy looked at me, and then back at his trolley. He didn’t seem to know what to do. But Eleanor calmly shook her head and showed the bellboy a card of some sorts. The boy stiffened up completely before nodding and running towards the door. He took one look at me before running through the door. He soon returned with one more tray. I realized what Eleanor tried to do, and tried to stop her.

‘M-Miss Eleanor, N-No….You really don’t have to do that! Truly, I-I’ll eat….when I arrive at my destination. I-It really is—‘My complaints were cut short by an icy glare from Eleanor, making me stiffen up and slowly nod. I felt a chill creep along my spine before I took the tray the bellboy held out. I gulped my fear away while the bellboy politely bowed and gently closed the door again. I gulped and started to eat my meal as Eleanor looked at me.

‘And you shouldn’t have to pay for this lunch either!’ She began. I really started to wonder why she would do something like this… We didn’t know each other, never met each other in the past and here we were, sitting in the same seats…And she paid for my food! That really didn’t stroke with my ideals, but I knew I had no money to fulfil them… I grunted and slowly continued eating my lunch.

‘B-But why? Why would you go through such a hassle to make me sit here? Why would you expend any money for the benefit for someone like me?’ I fired some questions, making Eleanor smile gently in front of me. She politely cleaned her mouth with a silk napkin and drank elegantly from her wine before answering me. Her blue eyes stared right into mine, as I gulped. I really was curious as to why she did all of this!

‘Is that your detective instinct kicking in, Mister Julian? I do this because I like your style. The way you rebutted the Conductor’s argument earlier and the way you casually made my daughter laugh were both quite amusing. You may look like a commoner, but I can say with quite a lot of certainty that you have a relative sharp mind!’ I blushed at hearing the compliments. Her daughter was staring out of the window, looking at the surroundings changing from urban to forestry and very rural. I shifted uncomfortably on my place. I really wasn’t used to this kind of talk where I was praised at all! But I gulped my anxiousness away and nodded.

‘W-Well…T-That is really nice of you to say, Miss Eleanor but…Really? Only because you liked my rebuttal, you do this for me?...Well then, if that is the case, allow me to give you this!’. I dug into the pockets of my long coat and took a card out of it. It had my address, my phone number and my E-address inscribed on it. I gently placed it on the table and pushed it out towards her.

‘If you ever need my services, you could always call upon me, Miss Eleanor! And I will give them for free, of course! That’s the least I can do to pay you back! After all, being able to grow in life is all about connections, right? ’ Eleanor looked at my with raised eyebrows. She smiled before taking my business card and putting it into her handbag. She nodded to herself.

‘I see you take my lessons to heart, Mister Julian! I might call on your services sooner or later!...But that brings me by my next question… Where are you going to and why?’ Eleanor handily put the matter to rest and looked at me. I felt her gaze slowly roll over my entire body while she waited for my answer.

‘W-Well…I am of to the border to investigate a string of murders there.’. That silenced Fiorella immediately. I nodded to her, not seeing anything wrong with sharing this kind of information. But Eleanor’s daughter tensed up. She looked away, uncomfortable with the idea of murder. It seemed she didn’t know to what atrocities we were capable of. I shook my head and grunted, feeling the weight of the situation push down on my mind again. How am I ever going to solve a mystery where others failed? Amelia said there were many who tried, but none got it right. I didn’t know why they quit though… I scratched my head while Eleanor’s eyes focused on my form. I shuffled uncomfortably as I felt her looking at me like that.

‘I didn’t know there were murders going on at the border…If you are not careful, you might instigate a major political warfare, you know that?’. I grunted. I thought about that as well. The relations with our neighbouring countries were really not good…Not to say frigid…If I took the wrong actions….Well…The results won’t be pretty. I gulped, feeling the pressure and anxiety slowly permeate my body .I really didn’t think this through! Eleanor noticed the small changes in my body language and slowly waved her hand back and forth to calm me.

‘Well…considering how you have acted with my daughter and I, I don’t think you have anything to worry about!’ Eleanor tried to reassure me as I slowly nodded. I tried to control my breathing and slowly but surely, I became calm again. Fiorella on the other hand grew slightly more anxious.  
‘Hey, Miss Fiorella, was it?’ My voice made her jump slightly. Her head snapped in my direction, fear and confusion easily read from her eyes. I know that hearing about murders for the first time made you uneasy, but this distraught? That was a first for me!

‘You don’t need to worry. Murders are really rare, and they are occurring at the border anyway! What is there to worry?’ I said some really strange logic right then and there. However, with the mental state Fiorella was getting in, the most effective method was keeping it as simple as possible. I thanked my odd choices in school for this thinking. I was the only detective that followed psychology lessons. The others were more interested in combat training with swords and the recently discovered gunpowder. I saw Fiorella slowly nod, her breathing slowing down a bit. It was not much, but it wasn’t all bad! Eleanor nodded while caringly looking at her daughter.

‘I am sure that three weeks of vacation will do you good, my dear!’. The blonde mother gently said while hugging her daughter. I nodded and politely focused on the landscape outside to give the two some privacy. I noticed that the Rexail was slowing down. I looked down at my watch and noticed it was almost time to arrive at the terminus of this journey. I sighed, preparing myself for an uncomfortable ride in a horse carriage. As the Rexail slowly came to a standstill, I stood up and grabbed my luggage. I saw several nobles looking in my direction with disgust. From the moment they saw me, they made sure to get as far as possible from me. I shrugged my shoulders and followed Eleanor and Fiorella out of the machine. The three of us made for quite an eyecatcher.   
Many eyes were glued to the two ladies, who seemingly were remaining calm under this whole situation. Me , on the other, hand was not. I shivered as I felt all those gazes on my coat. I felt my cheeks heating up as I pulled up the hem of my black coat. I wanted to disappear right here and now…

‘Well, this is a new feeling…’. I heard Eleanor sigh before looking at me with an amused smirk. I looked up at her. Even if she wasn’t wearing those 2 inch heels, she would still be bigger than me! I looked at her with questions in my eyes while we made our way to the carriage reception. I made a reservation already for my own ride.

‘Well… Normally, they would almost jump on us and ask for autographs or ask questions. I suppose that’s in the job description of journalists, but I would really like it if they would know when to keep their distance…Like they are doing right now!’. Eleanor said, looking meaningful at me. I grunted and scratched my head. Was I really that bad-looking? I knew I wasn’t beautiful or anything but…That hurt…I dropped my head in defeat while I went to the counter to ask for my reserved carriage including driver. When I returned, Eleanor and Fiorella were poised to move further into the city.

‘Well then, Mister Julian. Looks like we need to split here! It was really nice to meet you!’ Eleanor said while she gently extended her hand. I felt my cheeks reddening slightly before i gently returned the handshake.

‘It was my pleasure, Miss Eleanor! You too, Miss Fiorella!’ .I said, extending my hand out to her. But she just puffed her cheeks and looked the other way. I sighed and nodded to myself before looking at Eleanor. She smiled before turning around. Her daughter quickly followed her while I turned around as well. My coat swayed gently in the wind before I stepped into the carriage. It wasn’t as nearly as luxurious as the Rexail compartment. But it wasn’t bad! While the carriage drove away, Fiorella poked her mother with her elbow.

‘Mother? Why did you that? Why did you want to talk to him? … And don’t say you were ‘impressed’ with his reasoning! He is a commoner!’ Fiorella asked as mother and daughter walked through the city. Eleanor smiled and turned to her daughter.

‘Fiorella, dear. First off, commoners are really not bad people. Your father may be the one who taught you, but I think it may be time I send you to school! Second…Well, let’s just say it was more of an impulsive reaction. I think having a relation like him might be beneficial for us in the future…’ The blonde businesswoman answered before walking into the hotel they will be staying in, followed by a small army of reporters and journalists.


	3. An angry welcome

It had been two hours since I left the city behind. Two hours of bumping my head on the ceiling, getting smacked around in a rickety carriage of which I thought would fall apart sooner rather than later. So much for a relaxing ride… I grunted and protected my head with my hands as I bounced up and down. I heard my suitcase rattle on top of the old carriage, hoping it would not fall off during this bumpy ride. To keep myself from being afraid of getting my head bashed in by smashing it against the wooden ceiling, I looked out through the window. I was quite shocked, seeing the remains of dilapidated houses scattered everywhere. The most were nothing more than rotten wood and broken glass. Some didn’t even have glass… I sighed, knowing of the poverty outside of the bigger cities… It was daily on the news. I scratched my head, knowing I need to adjust my behaviour around these people. They generally disliked people from the city…

‘We have arrived!’ A rough voice announced outside the carriage. I sighed and nodded to myself. So this was it, huh? The place were I will be staying at for the coming weeks. I pushed the carriage’s door open and jumped outside. Bad idea… I yelped in pain as I bumped my head against the steel enforced edges of the doorframe. My body fell down like a fat sack of carrots, my face planted firmly in the sticky mud. I heard someone snicker behind me, and then some bubbly childish laughs . I grunted as I pushed myself back on my feet. The man that drove me to Vagron snickered and gave me my suitcase, nodding and then he quickly drove away with an unsettling gaze in his dark eyes. I rubbed my head, a numbing feeling spreading throughout my skull as I turned around and walked towards the entrance of the village.

‘Ah!’ A child-like voice yelled right in front of me. I stumbled, feeling something blocking my legs. When I looked down, a pair of intelligent looking eyes stared straight back into mine. A young boy, not even twelve years old, was on the verge of tears as he stared into my face. I sighed and slowly knelt down. I looked at the kid and tried calming him down. But he kept crying! Only then I realized that my shoes were crushing his small feet! I gasped and quickly jumped backwards. And sure enough, the kid stopped crying. But by that time, his crying alarmed some adults nearby, as well as more children. Quickly, I was surrounded…

‘This…is not good.’ I mumbled as the boy’s parents stepped forward and began yelling at me. It took me a while to fully understand what they were saying, their accent was way too thick! But after a while getting yelled at, I could somewhat make out what they were saying. It came down on the parents wanting a compensation for hurting their child. I scratched my head while thinking… On one hand, they were fully right. I hurt their child by stepping on his toes, and I should be held responsible. But on the other hand, I didn’t think this little predicament warranted a compensation… It was little more than an accident! I tried explaining myself, but it only served to make them angrier! The situation became completely tense when they pulled out a sickle and a hayfork and started poking it towards me! I slowly stepped back with my empty hands raised in the air in defence. I saw the parents smile, knowing they have won this argument. Or, thinking that at least… They closed in on me, closer and closer… I closed my eyes, not wanting to see how close the dangerous edges of the work tools were. I yelled in fear, not seeing anything and stumbling backwards over a sturdy root.

‘STOP!!’ A loud voice sounded behind the angry villagers. I heard the two villagers, who were yelling up until now, as well as the riled-up children go silent. I carefully opened my eyes, horrified to see the dangerous sickle just mere inches away from my nose. The two parents stopped in their tracks, but still pointed the weapon-grade tools towards me. The voice sounded vaguely familiar…

‘Aren’t you ashamed of yourselves?! Attacking innocent bystanders like a bunch of lunatics?! Honestly…’ Amelia walked towards the gathered mob as the two adults slowly turned around to face the newcomer. She looked strictly through her eyes as the children slowly shuffled away from her. The two adults shuffled uncomfortably in her presence. I raised an eyebrow when seeing the change of behaviour the people surrounding me had when Amelia suddenly appeared… The woman scoffed and spit a thick wad of drool on the ground right in front of the newcomer. Amelia grunted and rolled with her eyes.

‘Stay away, daughter of Death! Don’t come anywhere near us or the children!’ The woman yelled in a coarse voice while poking the pitchfork towards her. The man slowly followed the woman’s example, yet his sickle trembled with fear. Amelia rolled her eyes before taking a step towards the trembling children. They all looked at the woman in front of them with big, wide eyes. Following her second step, they all scattered and went into hiding behind haystacks and rotten tree trunks. Amelia sighed and shook her head slowly before continuing to walk towards the two distraught adults and me. The villagers backed away from her, before yelling and running away, quickly followed by the children… Amelia sighed and watched their backs until they disappeared behind a small line of bushes.

‘Always…’ She sighed against herself before turning around. ‘I am sorry for this, but….YOU?!’ She abruptly yelled when she noticed me lying sprawled in the sticky mud. I grunted and slowly pushed myself out of it and pushed the clods of mud from my coat. Thankfully, nothing else got dirty in that whole ordeal… I smiled weakly at her and grabbed my suitcase before straightening my coat. She stared at me in disbelief, anger twisting her face. 

‘H-Hi again…’ I weakly began, gulping away my fear. Her stare was really freaking me out! I grunted, seeing her hands getting twisted into vicious fists as she tried to control her anger. I gulped my fear away, feeling sweat trickled down my back…Or was that moisture from the mud? I slowly backed away from her, her eyes burning holes through me. After an awkward couple of minutes, she scoffed and spit on the ground before turning around, her face contorted in contempt. Her back faced me as she took a couple of step away from me. 

“W-Wait, Amelia!” I yelled, trying to walk towards her. But I almost tumbled over the strong trunk of a tree once again. I stumbled forwards, almost bumping into the brown-haired lady in front of me. I groaned, rubbing my ankles which were slightly hurting from the constant stumbling. Amelia groaned, before turning around and gazed angrily at me. “What?! “She spat while looking at me with fire in her eyes. She really was protective over her dead husband… Well, that is only natural, of course! I gulped my fear away and prepared my question. 

“I-Is… Is there anything like an inn around here? You know… for me to stay?” I asked. I really should’ve done research on this… Amelia scoffed before laughing loudly. I had the distinct impression she was laughing at and with me. The woman in front of me waved at our surroundings, pointing at the mountainside separating us from our neighbours, the Elvaria. I heard they were incredibly smart with using nature’s resources… Amelia’s snapping voice kicked me out of my thoughts into the current situation.

“This is the middle of nowhere! Why do you think there would be an inn here, of all places?! You would have a higher chance sleeping underneath a roof in the military outpost!” She smirked, pointing behind me. I scratched my head, trying to think of anything else that could deliver me some semblance of a roof above my head. Why didn’t I bring anything… like… a …  
“Hey, Amelia, wait!” A proverbial lightbulb jumped on in my head. I heard her sigh before turning around and looking annoyed at me. I gulped and decided to make this quick. I noticed a big forest to my left hand side. The canopy looked thick enough that it would keep water away. The ground looked very dry at least, despite it having rained just five hours ago! I looked back at Amelia before posing my question. 

“Can you at least give me something like blankets or anything? I don’t want to freeze to death, you know!” Amelia’s eyes tightened while she stared down at me. I grunted, awaiting her response. She scoffed before turning around and walking towards the village, not saying a word. I followed her, tugging my luggage behind me and hoping for a positive answer. We soon reached the dilapidated entrance of the village. The village itself was quite small, not even 30 houses were surrounded by a broken and rotten wooden wall. I could easily see holes in the ill-conceived defence… 

While I walked through the village , I noticed many curious eyes peering through the windows. Most of the windows didn’t even have glass in them. They were only covered by pieces of cloth drenched in wax to protect the inhabitants of the house against the forces of Mother Nature. I pulled the hood of my jacket higher over my head. All those staring eyes and pointing fingers made my mind jump back in time to my time at school, where I was bullied. I always arrived at school and people pointed at me, whispering lies and false rumours behind their hands. And there was always that creepy smile tugging at their lips. 

While I was contemplating my past, I bumped against Amelia who abruptly stopped. I gasped and quickly stepped back away from the angry woman staring hole right through me. It didn’t look like she would forgive me soon.. I sighed and saw her unlock a door in front of her before stepping through it. When I took a step towards her, she said I had no business walking the house of her husband and her. I understood that for the most part and respected her privacy. I took a step back and heard her walking deeper into her house before the door fell shut. That left me all alone on the middle of the muddy road. Soon, many people were curiously looking through their windows, some dared even to venture out of the safety of their houses and carefully walked towards me. A young girl was first to reach me and pulled curiously at my long coat. I realized she might never have seen synthetic material so I just smiled and sank unto my knees. I looked into her fearful eyes and lifted my palms in defence. I smiled slowly, trying to calm the curious yet fearful girl. 

“Hey there, how are you?” I asked carefully. But my deep voice didn’t help. The girl gasped and quickly walked backwards. She could not have been older than 13 years old. I smiled and just kept quiet. Her parents came over, looking disapprovingly at me. I slowly stood upright, looking them in the eyes. I have learned that fidgety people were regarded as the persons least worthy of your trust… At least, that’s what the public thought! I smiled and slowly put my hands up. The woman holding the child lovingly gazed at me. I waited patiently. It would be better that the villagers would start the conversation. The woman said something but I couldn’t quite make out what it was. I turned my head towards, causing the villagers to cautiously walk backwards. But not the parents of the girl. They stood headstrong in front of their beloved child , as to protect her. The woman repeated her question, and through the murk of her accent, I could make out some words.

“What am I doing here?” I repeated the question in my head. I shrugged my shoulders before answering calmly. “I am here to solve your little murder mystery.” I said it in one breath. After that, there was silence. One second after that, there was an avalanche of sound washing all over me. Some voices sounded relieved, but most of them were aggravated , angry, or rude. I didn’t understand their reactions! Here I was , trying to help these people and they rather saw me gone! I grunted and scratched my hair, slightly annoyed with these reactions. I tried to calm them, but to no avail. I clicked with my tongue. I knew that people living close to the border of the country hated the people living in the cities, but this is way worse than I imagined! This took my back to those times the entire school was against me , gossiping about me, spreading lies and looking at me like I was some kind of wild animal… I pulled my hood over my head, my face falling into the created shadows. I tried to slowly pull away , but the villagers surrounded me. I had nowhere to go! 

Suddenly, they fell silent. One moment , there was a barrage of sound invading my ears. The moment after that was filled with deafening silence. Only the rustling leaves from a nearby forest confirmed that I did not go deaf. I felt something creaking behind me. I quickly turned around, adrenaline speeding up my movements. I almost went flat on my face as my right foot slipped with the help of the slimy mud. Amelia looked at me with an emotionless face and handed me some blankets as well as a plastic cover. She nodded her head, pointing at the wooden arch that signified the entrance of the village. I grunted, recognizing the head motion as my queue to leave. I turned around and grabbed the blankets and the plastic. I turned to the gathered mass and nodded at them. Without saying a word, I walked past them , forcing my way through and walked out of the village. Behind me , I heard some people whisper something about “Death” and “daughter”. I shook my head and made my way over to the dense forest. I chose a good spot and made camp for the night. I searched for some wood to burn. Luckily, the wood inside the dense, dark forest was dry, protected by the thick canopy of lush green leaves.

The sun hid behind the mountain range separating the country of the Elvaria and this country as I finally succeeded in making a fire. It was small, but it gave warmth anyway. I looked at my makeshift tent and sighed. This was not where I imagined staying tonight… Or any night, for that matter! I grunted as looked at the orange coloured sky. The sun slowly giving way to the three moons, one already rising on my right hand side. I grunted, not getting any wiser from the reactions of the villagers. Why were they so angry? I knew people from the borders hated those who lived in the centre of the country, but this was outright despising! I groaned and decided to take an early rest to calm myself a bit.

“Never could’ve guessed I would ever sleep under the starry sky… Can’t be that bad, right?” I mused to myself, before surrounding the fire with small rocks to prevent it from going out of control. I was thinking of putting it out, but that if I ever needed it for anything during the night, it would come in handy. So I kept it burning for now. I slowly crawled into my makeshift tent, wondering how I will fare in this part of the country… I slowly fell asleep, my slumber guided by the many sounds of the night.

Morning came , like all days in my opinion, way too early. I thought I could sleep longer now that I did not have an alarm clock. The morning sunrays illuminating the ground certainly thought differently about that! I groaned. No curtain could protect my eyes from the peeping sunrays. I grunted and rubbed my eyes before drunkenly stumbling out of my tent. I used a nearby stream of water to wash my face. I was used to the biting cold water splashing against my face due to my broken boiler back home. I stared into my own face , droplets of water falling back to where they belong. I smiled slowly at myself. I saw a young face, not older than 23 years older staring back into my cold blue eyes. Ruffled, wet strands of my black hair framed my face. A beginning beard began slowly peeking through my skin.

Suddenly, I heard something behind my back. I turned around but saw nothing. I grasped at my worn down sword, hanging from the old, leather sheath. I looked around again, but saw nothing. I was no scaredy-cat, but this was a new environment. And I always have had problems with new locations, they made me anxious… I looked some more, but didn’t hear the sound anymore. I shrugged my shoulders slowly, trying to push the uneasy feeling away while returning back to my makeshift tent. I munched on some dry bread as I thought how I should begin with my task. There was no chance that I could talk with the villagers , there was some reason why they didn’t want me investigating this matter, that was sure! The only one I could talk too is Amelia. However… She is not in the mood to talk with my right now, I believe. Despite thinking that, I pushed myself upwards and rolled up the blankets again before hiding them behind some fallen tree trunks. I hoped sincerely that nothing would happen but seeing the people’s outburst, you could never know! After doing that, I turned around and walked towards the village.

“Nothing ventured, nothing gained!” I said to myself when I walked through the entrance arch. The town was unusually quiet. My eyes scanned the nearby houses. No peeking gazes, no foul insults…nothing. I frowned. I cautiously continued deeper into the village, not seeing anyone while I walked the same route as before. I finally reached Amelia’s house and took a deep breath. My knuckles touched the cold, scratched wood before knocking harder. I truly hoped she would accept talking to me, at least for a little while! I waited for an answer, but didn’t hear anything behind the door. My knuckles collided with the wood again, harder this time. I grunted and thought she was ignoring me. 

“Amelia! Amelia?! I want to talk to you!” I yelled loudly, quickly looking around for signs of any villagers having heard me. Thankfully, no one did. I heard some stumbling through an open window on what I presumed was the first floor. Mere seconds after that, the door swung open and a red-eyed Amelia stood right in front of me. She looked tired for some reason. She glared at me, causing me to walk back in defence. But I cleared my throat, took a deep breath to calm myself and looked back at her. Her green eyes looked directly into mine. The white around her colourful irises was filled with little veins of blood, like she didn’t sleep for a week… I scratched my head.

“I need to talk to you. Right now. It’s about the murders…” I began carefully. Instead of ravaging my eardrums with savage insults like before, or screaming the blood out of my ears, she only let out a weak gasp and slowly gave way to let me in. I thanked her and walked through the door, closing it behind me. She weakly sat on the sofa in the middle of a cosy decorated living room. The lady sighed as she saw me sitting right in front of her on an old chair. I waited a bit, trying to find the right words to start his vacation without starting off a hysteric panic attack like earlier. In the end, I decided that the direct approach would work the best here. But… I will avoid any subjects that have anything to do with her husband.  
“So… About these murders… Can you tell me when they started, approximately?” I asked carefully, grabbing a small notebook out of the breast pocket of my coat. It had a handy hidden pen to reduce weight. Amelia gazed at me with red-stricken eyes before she answered in a broken and hoarse voice. It sounded like she had nothing to drink in an entire month… I grunted and leaned forward, trying to focus on her answers alone.

“About… 2 months ago…” She hoarsely replied while looking at me scribbling quickly in my notebook. I nodded , gazing at her again. I kept eye contact throughout the conversation. It helps to calm people who are in distress. I asked some more things, like how many victims there were already. I carefully steered away from asking the identities of the victims however. I could derive some information out of her answers. During the past two months, there have been 14 casualties. Amelia’s husband was the last to die… I cleared my throat as I wrote all of that on the milky sheet of paper. I nodded again while thinking… Two months is long… Very long… I clicked with my tongue before asking the dates of the murders. I wrote them down as well, but they seemed perfectly random. No same amount of days had passed until the next murder occurred… How peculiar… Are these murders … separate occasions or…? I shook my head. It was still too early to think about a potential connection. I rubbed my temples slowly, trying to arrange this information in my mind.   
“Is there any place here that holds a register of all the people living here?” I said, formulating a simple idea to check something. Amelia looked at me before scoffing. For a second, I was afraid I had touched her feelings once again. But after that, she waved to some point at the end of the main street of the village. I put my head through the open hole that was supposed to be a window, but the material that should keep rain and wind outside lied ripped on the floor. I followed the street and saw a massive building at the end of it. It was big with a main entrance hall and a really high, small tower reaching out to the sky. A black metal crown was placed on top of the tower. A pair of hands pointed at the right time. A church.

“I didn’t know the church had a branch here?” I asked Amelia who rolled with her eyes.   
“I would rather see them gone than coming…” She said in her hoarse and broken voice. I raised an eyebrow when I heard that. According to what I have learned at university, Most if not all people who lived at the borders were faithful followers of the Church. Guess you can’t learn everything from a book… I scratched my head, making a simple scribble detailing this information at the side of the sheet of paper in my hands. I nodded at Amelia.

“Well , I think where I will be going next!” I said before walking towards the door. Amelia scoffed again before pointing at the clock hanging from the church tower. It said it was about 10 AM… I raised my eyebrows and looked at Amelia, waiting for an explanation. She explained that all villagers were attending the morning service given by the pastor. Everyone went, except Amelia. Everyone prayed, except Amelia. Seemingly, everyone believed in the Church and its rules… except Amelia. I made a mental note of this information before nodding. I thanked Amelia for this help and left her alone , giving her the advice to sleep a lot today. I closed the door behind me, before turning left and making my way directly towards the church. When I came closer to the massive building, I noticed how gaudy it was. The tips of the tower were decorated with golden ornaments, and the walls equipped with stone gargoyles. All with a hint of gold worked into it. I scoffed and clicked with my tongue. Even in the poorest parts of the country, the Church dares to use its money to enrich only itself, it seems. I shrugged my shoulders, hearing monotonous sounds escaping through the passive, open, wooden doors. I placed myself on one of the statues surrounding the entrance and began reading through the small amount of notes I took. I had nothing to go on… Perfect… I sighed before yelping loudly. An ear-smashing sound of copper smashing on metal echoed throughout the village. Applause sounded inside the building as I fell flat on my face, startled by the loud noises. After that, a stream of people excited the church, followed by a middle-aged man clad completely in black. However, a gold cross around her neck and golden streaks woven into his clothing gave him a gaudy impression. I clicked with my tongue, getting disapproving gazes from the people going on with their daily lives as I jumped back upon my feet. The people quickly walked away from me as the pastor gently waved them goodbye. He noticed me standing from the corner of his left eye and turned to face me. A wild grey beard adorned his chin while some strand of hair peeked from underneath his ceremonial hood. 

“You are the pastor, I take it?” I asked politely. While I did not believe in the church’s rules or anything they say really, I still want to treat them with respect like any other villager here…if they would give me the chance. He flashed me a gently smile before making the customary greeting of the church: crossing his arms over each other and bowing in a 45-degree angle. I nodded, not doing the greeting myself as I found it something that only believers should do. Which I am not.

“Yes, I am indeed the pastor of this magnificent church of our Holy Lord. Can I help you, young man?” He said with a gentle voice. I looked towards the street, rolling with my eyes. There they go again, plastering the name of their deities on everything they use. I corrected myself and smiled, remembering why I came to this place. I introduced myself as a detective who came to do some research work for a client of mine. I kept the rest in the dark for the moment. He just smiled, his face not budging an inch.

“Do you have anything like a register in which the people of this village are written in?” I asked. The man rubbed his beard before slowly nodding. He said that he indeed has such documents in his possession but that he would like to see some verification of my identity first. The church had special rules about such documents, apparently. I slowly nodded, grabbing my detective’s Pass and a sheet of paper that was signed by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The pastor read through the documents before handing them back to me. He said that he will let me read the documents, but that I could not copy them. I understood that. He guided me through the door and waved me into the main hallway.

As with all churches I had visited, this one was equally big and decorated with statues of the deities the Church worshipped. They were all crafted from high-quality marble, polished until they reflected the multi-coloured light falling through the richly coloured window panels. Instead of cloth, what was used everywhere else in the village, pieces of fragile glass were stuck in the metal window frames. The middle aged pastor guided me to the back of the main hall , pushing a heavy door open and walking through it. The room was nothing special. White plastered walls surrounded me as I followed the man, the old sword swaying from my right hip. At the back of that room was a richly decorated chest. It was made of high quality wood and was enforced with golden strips that were drilled into it. Clearly a thing of excellent craftmanship! I saw him fiddling with his ceremonial garb before using a very small key to unlock the padlock of the chest. He flipped the lid and grabbed some leather-bound books out of it. He lied them out on a richly decorated stand, flipping them open. A wave of dust filled my nostrils and made me cough wildly. 

“I know this building is not the cleanest!” The pastor laughed , causing me to roll my eyes. I began reading moving the pages with my notebook beside me. The pastor said he needed to do something and left me. I quickly grabbed my notes and began looking through the register. I immediately went to the pages with deceased people and began looking at the dates when they died. There were quite a few that matched the dates Amelia gave me… However, some weren’t accurate. Did Amelia give me wrong information? I frowned as I thought about this information. When I rubbed over the dates, I noticed that the usually rough surface of the used paper was smooth and that there were some tiny smears in the area of those changed entries… I slowly closed the book. I clicked my tongue, this book has given me more questions than answers. At that time, the pastor returned. Was he listening at the door? He grabbed the book and carefully placed it in the chest. After locking it, he ushered me out of the room , claiming to have another thing to do. I nodded and politely thanked him before walking out of the building. I rubbed my head, protecting my eyes against the harsh noon sunlight shining down upon me. My head was filled with questions, the book throwing even more mysteries at me. Why were some entries different than the dates Amelia told me? I scratched my scalp, trying to make at least some semblance of a theory about these bits of information like they taught me at university. But to no avail, I could not make nor tails out of this… Yet.


	4. Blue death

After another dry night, I woke up with my mind covered in a thick mist from the questions. I was up late re-reading and making different assumptions about the information I got. For now, I couldn’t think of anything sensible. I washed my head in the nearby stream before walking back into the village again. This time, the villagers looked at me with angry eyes. However, they weren’t about to punch me in the face which was a positive thing in my mind, albeit a small one. Most of the people were out, working on the fields. Men and women alike. But that made me wonder where the children went. As I recall, there were quite a few of them, which was perfectly normal and I am the last person who has any right to criticize how people educated their children, as long as it was within the boundaries of the law. My question was quickly answered when a smiling boy happily jumped towards and elderly lady, who happily hugged him. More children came from the central plaza of the village, which was nothing more than the church and a hardened earthen circle. All of them happy and smiling when they saw their parents return from the fields. The whole scene made even me smile, a bystander without any children to speak of. There was a familiar figure standing behind the children, looking directly at me. I turned and walked towards him.

“Good morning, Pastor. I see you keep the children busy while the parents are working?” I asked while the Pastor made the customary greeting used by Church Officials. He smiled gently while the people looked at me with suspicious eyes. I felt their gazes practically burning holes in my back. My long coat flowed gently along my legs as a warm breeze rolled through the street. The parents were slowly scattered to their houses, leaving only the pastor and me, along with some curious onlookers. The pastor nodded.

“Yes, I am like a teacher of sorts… I teach them in math and the language of our Lord, Kraikki, of course. But please, call me John. And your name is…? “ He replied, looking at my face a bit more. Our meeting yesterday was brief, and I totally forgot to introduce myself. I rubbed the back of my head, cursing my own forgetfulness.

“Oh yeah! My name is Julian, a detective from the main city, Floran!” I said, extending my hand while smiling with my eyes closed. The man in front of me was a slight bit apprehensive at shaking my hand but ultimately decide to shake it anyway. His gloved hand felt smooth against my fingers before he pulled back. I nodded slowly, looking around me. It seemed that the villagers were a little less apprehensive of me now that they saw I didn’t harbour any malicious intent to the person they trusted the most. I shrugged my shoulders before smiling.

“Oh, by the way! Thank you for your help yesterday! It was a big help!” I said, loud enough so that the villagers could hear me. If it was such a big deal to be recognized by John, I might as well make an advantage with it. I could hear an audible gasp from the few people watching the two of us, hearing someone run of to, hopefully, spread some rumours about me. While I generally hated the idea of rumours, being bullied by them quite a lot, they can be quite handy to make yourself a reputation in places where you have never been! I smiled slowly while looking around. I wanted to check something else. The graveyard. Normally, people write two dates on their tombstones, right?

“Hey, could you tell me where the graveyard is, John?” I asked. John pointed a finger behind him, let of the church. I smiled and thanked hi before walking towards him. In the background, John’s voice called all of the children back to him to resume the lessons. I walked past the gaudy church and followed the dirt road into the un-ceremonial graveyard. Small stones lined the bumps in the earth. The dirt underneath my feet made a distinct noise as I fished my notebook out of my breast pocket of my jacket. I began looking through the names I had written down and tried to find their graves. It was not the most fun job, but with these two different pieces of information on the sheet of paper, I had to have a third opinion. Even if that meant getting one from the ones that can’t talk anymore… I gulped, always feeling weird and unwelcome on a silent graveyard. I flipped the small, fragile pages between my fingers as I walked between the rows of graves. However… I could not even find any of the deceased! Frowning, I walked back and forth between the rows. Thinking that I must have missed them, I began from the first gave and took my time to closely look at the names. After an hour or two, I concluded they had no graves. But why? I rubbed my chin while my mind was processing this information. No graves… and different dates… I rubbed my head in frustration while I racked my brain over and over. A rustling noise sounded in front of me. My head snapped upwards, looking right in front of me. Every fibre of my body began experience the unwelcome feeling of adrenaline. My mind was already not optimal with being on a graveyard, weird sounds were not helping with that.

Another sound.  
And then another.

They all sounded mere metres away from each other. Despite my building fear, I grabbed the grip of my rusted sword and slowly inched forwards. While I did that, I suddenly saw two things reflecting in the sunlight. Underneath the shadows cast by the dense canopy of the tightly packed threes were two shimmering dots. And they were looking at me. I gulped, my throat getting dry and itchy while I slowly inched forwards. My body heated up, my muscles getting excited by the adrenaline getting pumped through my body. The sound of my heart was so clear, I thought it had jumped straight into my head. I slowly inched forward, slowly pulling the sword out of its holder. The rusted and crusted dim material barely reflected the sunrays. Suddenly, a lot of shuffling before a whirlwind of black rammed me. I gasped, the fear doing more than the dim pain around my stomach. I dropped quickly to my knees, being the scaredy-cat that I am. I heard the shuffling go further and further away from me, and I was left thinking. Will I… sit here and… wet my pants like a child? Or will I be an adult and go after the thing that rammed me? Slowly, I calmed myself. My hands touched my chest and stomach area carefully but there didn’t seem any sign of serious injury. Once that had been confirmed, I turned on my heels and jumped forward. The adrenaline in my muscles helping me in getting off the graveyard fast. After that, I made my way quickly in the direction of the church.   
At that moment, the pastor was saying his goodbye’s to the children who returned to their homes. I came running , breathing heavily. My palms resting on my knees as I looked at the pastor. 

“John! Did you see something black running past here?!” I yelled, hoping he could help me. But he just shook his head. I groaned, holding my sides. I really should be more fit next time I take a mystery like this! I wheezed , the adrenaline slowly disappearing out of my body. The last child was gone and John walked towards me. He made the customary greeting again before pulling me on my feet again. I nodded and thanked him. He just answered he followed Kraikki’s will. That made me roll his eyes when he wasn’t looking. But then he asked me why I asked if he saw anything black anyway. I began explaining about the brief exchange I had on the graveyard. The pastor only nodded before guiding me inside. He ignored my answers to just leave it at that and pushed me inside before closing the door behind him. He sat down on one of the benches, left there by the children that follow lessons with him. I took a chair and sat right in front of him, hanging my jacket over a nearby desk. 

“Well, what you’ve told me sounded a lot like what other inhabitants of the village have reported to me. They always reported something mysterious watching them from the shadows. And it all stroked with what you have said: something black with white hands arms and legs… I have absolutely no idea what they mean by that. The thing has appeared several times. It has earned the nickname “The monster” from the children and parents alike…” He sighed. I nodded, making some notes in my notebook. 

“Pardon my asking, but what are you researching here anyway?” John asked me. I smiled and casually told him I was looking for a murderer. I saw the man tense up a bit, and I couldn’t fault him for that. Most people do when they hear the word ‘murderer’ . I sighed and rubbed my temples. A so-called monster, not existent graves and wrong dates… What the hell is going on here?

“If you are looking for a murderer , maybe you should look for the identity of that monster, as the villagers call it… “ The pastor mumbled before standing up and turning his back to me. 

“Well, I believe that was all that I know of, do you need anything else? I have to clean this up still…” I nodded and stood up as well. 

“Yes, one more thing, John…. Do you have any idea why the victims of that so-called monster have no graves?” I saw the man tense up slightly, his fingers hovering a feet above a wooden desk. My eyes focused on John’s form. He slowly turned around, his face with his trademark gentle smile. He made a waving movement with his hands before pointing at the door behind me.

“I wouldn’t know that, I am pretty sure that I gave them a proper burial. I swear that on our Lord Kraikki!” He said, making the greeting once again before continuing to clean the building. I slowly nodded, turning around and walked straight out of the door. I closed it behind me and made my way out of the village.

Sitting behind my campfire and staring at the sinking sun, I was reading through my notes. I had now three things to worry about. First, the missing graves. Why had the people who died no graves? They were not the only ones who died in these past two months, so why only them. Would it be connected to the mystery shrouding that “Monster” John was talking about? That monster was something else. It made for a nice and easy suspect, but how do you indict someone you don’t even know the face of? And then, there was the mystery of the double dates… I scratched my head in frustration. The cases we got in school were much easier than this! 

I sighed and swallowed the last piece of dry bread. I really had to find food somehow. Maybe hunting? But the only thing I had with me was a kitchen knife and my rusty sword, and I didn’t trust either blade to cut up fresh meat. Suddenly, I heard the mysterious rustling sound behind me again. I gulped and slowly turned around. The rustling came from behind me, appearing from the dark shadows of the forest. My hand slowly gripped the handle of my sword, slowly pulling it out. The crackled, rusty surface shimmered dimly in the dancing firelight. My dry throat began prickling as I saw the two white buttons hover in place again. They looked more like eyes this time. 

Suddenly, a lot more shuffling. I pushed my eyes closed, preparing myself for the impact of the thing. But it never came. I cautiously opened my eyes again , looking for the two shimmering dots… But they seemed to have disappeared. I bit my own lip and debated with myself if I should go into the dark forest or if I should just.. ignore what just happened… After a couple of seconds, I dashed into the dark forest. Two of the three moons shining through the thick canopy of the woods, creating small silver pillars of light. I used those to guide my way through the forest. At first, I thought of bringing some kind of torch with me. But you could never be too careful near a forest with a fire, so I decided against it. After ramming several trees and stumbling over multiple trunks and roots, I decided to take this calmly. I grunted and walked through the forest as I noticed the ground underneath me slowly inclining downwards. Being alone int the dark like this was absolutely not my favourite thing! Whenever I said something, yelling to ensure I wasn’t deafened by the pressuring silence surrounding me , my voice bounced between all trees surrounding me. It made me shiver. My eyes frantically scanned my surroundings, seeing only small slivers of moonlight seeping through the dense roof of leaves above me. 

I slowly shuffled forward, afraid to fall on the dark and unknown grounds. My knuckles went white when I grasped the handle of my sword tightly. I gulped and felt a cold shiver crawl along my skin. Slowly, I walked forwards, only silence keeping me company. My own heartbeat made me jump slightly as I heard it clearly. I swallowed, trying to stop the itch in my dry throat. To no avail. I took a careful step towards the dark in front of me, holding my hands out to stop myself from bumping into any more plants.

Suddenly, I felt something jerk at my ankle. My heart stopped before pumping like a madman. A gurgling noise pushed itself through my throat, too shocked to say or yell anything. It was true when people said fear paralyzed their voices… I groaned, suddenly feeling very lightheaded as I hovered up and down almost an armlength above the forest ground. My mantle hung uselessly in front of me, limiting my sight. I pulled my chin against my knees before feeling at my ankles. It doesn’t seem anything was broken or wounded but… there was some kind of rag tied around it. A little more touching gave me the impression it was some kind of noose. I groaned, feeling myself getting lightheaded as all the blood rushed to my head. My head became very hot, my body not able to copy with this massive influx of fluid. I groaned, and passed out, unable to hear the shocked gasps that surrounded me, followed by more shuffling like earlier. My last thought was that I hated the dark…

When I came to, I gasped loudly. My nose felt prickly as did the inside of my throat. I groaned and turned around, a weird warm softness enveloping me. My eyes slowly fluttered open , my head pounding as I tried to recall what happened… Did I hit my head or something before I went to sleep…? I held my face in my hands, trying to recall something from the night before … Until I heard something beside me. I cautiously and slowly looked to my left side. My throat made a noise like a mouse getting squeezed. Right beside me, resting on a simple, hand-made bed lied a beautiful woman! My brain took several seconds to process this new image before I cursed and jumped up from my position, bumped the back of my head against a wooden bar and dropped unto the hard floor. A blanket covered my half-naked form afterwards. A slow yawn resounded through the room, followed by long, smooth dark blue hair raising itself. 

I was speechless.

Utterly speechless.

I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t get any sound over my lips. The women looked at the empty spot beside her before peeking over the edge of the bed. I stared in shock while she calmly smiled and raised herself. She was fully clothed, yes, but… A long yet simple navy blue dress covered her entire body. A rough metal brooch elegantly connected two pieces of fabric that ran over her voluptuous chest and joined her main dress. Her wrists had simple, metal bands with a white coloured braided rope coiling around it. My eyes went big as she gazed at me with beautiful, green eyes. I gulped. This… was not what I expected! Not at all!

“Hello there, Sir…” She said. Her voice sounded gentle. Soothing. Yet it made all of the hairs on my skin stand tall. I did not know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I dumbly nodded, suddenly realizing she might want an answer as well.  
“I-I…Uhhhh…H-Hello….I-I…Uuuhmmm…” I stumbled over every syllable I wanted to say as the woman slowly stepped out of bed, revealing her smooth, silky white legs. I was immediately silenced when I saw that. I never was good with any girl, let alone beautiful ones that could make my tongue slither itself into a tight knot! So I only gulped, seeing the woman smile and slowly step towards me. Her form was absolutely marvellous. I felt my cheeks heat up before she gracefully let herself fall unto her right knee. Her cool, gently fingers caressed my left cheek before holding me by my jaw. She gently pushed her head towards me and closed her eyes. I really didn’t know what to do… This was an unfamiliar woman, albeit a beautiful woman, who was lying in the bed near me in this…this… where was I anyway? 

But the woman would have none of my internal thoughts as she simple touched her forehead with mine, which made me shiver warmly. A wave of warmth spread throughout my body from the point she touched me to the tip of my toes. I felt my jaw almost hit the floor, my hand pushing it back into place. The mysterious lady only smiled before standing once again. She nodded to herself before walking towards a makeshift desk. It was made of some kind of pine, yet tastefully put together. Some weird flasks with a bubbling liquid stood on the ground while some papers covered the entire desk. The woman waved some away before she began scribbling in a small book. I was slowly getting calmer and stood up again. The woman heard that and smiled.

“Good, it sees you can already stand! That is much better than the past days!” She said and scribbled something into the book. I rubbed my temples, trying to clear the mist covering my mind before my eyes flew wide open. I froze, asking the woman how many days I was out.

“You were out for two days already, I thought you might have had a concussion or something!” She said, a gently smile tugging at her lips. A loud gasp escaped my lips. If it really was two days already, then…!   
Before this whole thing went down, I found something. You could approximate when the next attack will be… it was always between 4 to 6 days! And the sixth would be… the day that I was out… I pinched myself for getting carried away by the rumours and going after that monster. Which let me here… I grunted and cursed myself for my own carelessness. Suddenly, a thought crossed my mind. 

The village.

I need to get back to the village as soon as I could. I needed to see if my hypothesis was correct and if it was… who the victim was and how he or she was killed… I felt my stomach drop. I ruffled my hair, looking around for my clothes. The beautiful, blue-haired woman seemed to guess my intentions and pointed at a neatly folded pile near the door. I nearly sprinted towards the bundle of clothes and quickly put them on. While I was doing that, the door flew open and a young girl ran through the opening. I yelped, falling unto the ground. I rubbed my back as I saw something black walk past me. I gasped and hurriedly pushed myself up from the floor and watched the newcomer walk towards the woman. The black “thing” of the rumours was not a monster…

It was a girl.

She looked young, at least younger than me and I was 22! Yet her eyes spoke of her maturity. She spoke shortly to the woman who, afterwards, lovingly hugged the girl and gently patted her head. The girl smiled and returned the hug in kind before turning around and walking outside. She completely ignored me. I quickly put on my jacket and strapped my sword around my waist. I checked if I had everything while the woman looked at me curiously. I noticed that too, and turned towards her.   
“U-Uhm…Is there something interesting?” I slowly asked as I began making plans in my head to get as soon as possible from here -wherever it was- to the village to test my theory. I hoped I wasn’t too late to prevent… I didn’t finish that train of thought. The woman only smiled before nodding and speaking to me matter-of-factly.

“Yes, there has been a murder in the village. Again.” She simply stated. I felt my stomach getting filled with concrete. I felt my face heat up while I felt a wave of dizziness crash unto my body. I grunted as I looked at her again. I did not question her intel, not right now. My mouth had problems with speaking, but after a couple of dread-filled seconds, I managed to speak but only one word. Who?

The woman looked at her notebook, her eyes flying over the milky white paper. She pursed her lips before looking closely at me. I gulped, waiting for her answer.

“A woman named … Amelia.” Countless hands of ice seemingly grabbed my body and pulled it down. My knees rammed against the floor, ice filling my body. Shit. This … is the worst possible outcome… I couldn’t believe it. The woman who was so passionate about her own lover an grieved more than anyone else got murdered, her voice immediately silenced as well. I bit on my own lip, drawing a little blood. I was careless. I rammed my fist against the hard wooden floor. I was careless and let weird rumours get the better of me… And now… Now… I scoffed at my own incompetence. True, I had no real connection with the woman, but all victims are one too many in my book. And it happened right under my nose too! I grunted and slowly pushed myself upwards, stumbling on my legs. My eyes looked at the woman as I slowly got calmer again. I slapped myself a couple of times to get my mind back in line once again. But still… A victim… right under my watch as well! I groaned before sitting back on the floor. 

Now that the murder had already happened, there was no particular rush. If that girl came here and told the news just now, the murder would’ve happened this night. I began thinking of another plan but the woman in front of me took my attention. She just curiously stared at me with those deep emerald eyes of hers. I gulped before awkwardly extending my hand. I presented myself which made her smile and throw her long, smooth hair backwards. She slowly walked towards me. I saw that she wore simple shoes with ribbons criss-crossing her milky skin. 

“Lily. Lily Asmod.” She presented herself. Her fingers felt so smooth on my own when she gently shook my head. I could only dumbly nod as she presented herself. I gulped before slowly pulling back, my hand swaying uselessly beside my body. I grunted before scratching my head and looking through the small window. Trees were the only thing I could see! So I was still inside the forest, that is good to know. 

“I haven’t seen you around, Julian… Are you new in the village?” Lily asked with a curious gaze playing in her eyes. It took me a bit to fish my mind out of her intoxicating gaze. I slowly shook my head before straightening my back and grabbing my Detective License and showing it to her. Her brows furrowed as she read the paper. Then she looked at me.

“So you are a detective from Floran? For what reason are you here?” Now it was my turn to raise my eyebrows. I could swear I heard some distrust in her voice. I defensively raised my hands before I began explaining why I was here, and why I was involved this entire business. 

“Well, if you are here to do research on the murders, I’d daresay that the investigation isn’t going smoothly.” She coldly noted while looking at me. My cheeks flushed red while I stared at the ground. I was not in the mood to be criticized by anyone, thank you very much… I sighed before Lily placed a soft, cool hand on my shoulder. I gasped and looked up, directly into her gentle eyes. 

“I know this may sound harsh but… every new revelation in a case is handy, even if it is a new victim.” She said in her gentle voice. I slowly nodded, thinking that I understood the meaning behind her cryptic words. I slowly turned around, and narrowly dodged the girl from earlier running inside. She smiled and showed Lily some rabbits and some dark-red berries in her other hand. The blue-haired woman smiled and gently took the animals from the girl, lying them on the table. The newcomer looked at me if she didn’t see me before. I slowly waved. This was awkward… The girl walked towards me, inspecting my face. 

Contrary to Lily, She had long, light blue hair. Did she dye it that way? Her light blue eyes gazed in my own ice blue eyes. It was quite a long time ago that I saw any blue eyes! There were quite rare in this country, after all. The girl kept inspecting my face, to the point that it got uncomfortable. Lily clicked with her tongue, causing the girl to turn around and chuckle.

“Come on, mother! I was just looking at this newcomer and you had to go and be a spoilsport!” The girl said with a smile playing around her lips. I snickered. This scene with a mother and daughter made me think of another duo I met before… I shook my head before turning on the heels of my shoes and walking towards the door. Lily’s voice stopped me right before I walked outside. If I wanted to join her and her daughter later today for dinner. This caused a shocked gasp to escape from said daughter’s lips. 

At first, I wanted to decline. But then I remembered my small rations left at my camp, as well as the inability to buy any more food here! So I slowly nodded. But how will I find them? Lily had already counted on that.  
“Adalynn here will guide you like before!” Lily said, pointing at her daughter. I slowly nodded and walked down the porch and looked at the makeshift house I just rested in. The walls and roof were covered with some kind of black moss. When I pressed against it, it was actually warm! How peculiar… A metal smokestack reached towards the sky. The house was actually quite skilfully put together! Not as good as stone houses, but still very nice! I nodded and slowly walked away from the house. I saw a path, created by years of usage and decided to take that. If Adalynn used this, I might as well, I thought.

After an hour walking in the silent forest, I finally reached the end. I took in a deep breath when I felt the warm sunrays on my face again. Walking between those thick trunks made me feel a bit claustrophobic, I think. I calmed myself before slowly walking towards the village. I prepared myself mentally. I never was good in this. I actually didn’t really like blood. I had no problem seeing it… in small amounts. I gulped and slowly walked through the entrance. The village was quiet yet… something was different. There was a mist of… of… relief? I was certain that I was mistaken and walked towards the church. I was quite certain the pastor would have an explanation for what was going on here. When I walked in, I was met with absolute silence. The church was completely empty, no one was mourning the loss of one of the villagers.

No one…

I felt my face slowly tighten up before I breathed out to keep my calm. My footsteps echoed through the big building. Not even the pastor was present… I saw two caskets lie at the end of the altar. One was open, the other was locked with gaudy golden chains wrapped around it. My eyebrows went upwards when I saw that. Who would lock a casket? I mean, dead people are known to never move again… A pang in my heart made me realize the truth even more. In the other casket, there lied…

Amelia. 

Her expression was peaceful and washed perfectly clean. A white cloth covered her body. Three red spots permeated through the saintly white cloth. While I wanted nothing more than run far away from here, I needed to something here. I will end this. I may have no connection to the woman lying dead right in front of me, but every dead person is one too many! I shivered before I slowly came closer to the casket. I gulped, a weird feeling coming over me. I looked at the pristine cloth, yet my gaze was attracted to the three scarlet dots permeating through the cloth. My face went cold when i realized what it was. I gulped before noticing something weird. The three dots were not in line. Two of them were, the middle one was completely off the mark… I slowly grabbed my notebook and moved to one of the benches in the church to write it down. 

“Oh, Julian! I thought you had went back to the city?” A familiar voice sounded behind me. Pastor John was descending a staircase that lead towards the sky. I presumed to the big bell hanging above the two of us. I shook my head to answer her question, slowly pushing my notebook deep into one of the pockets of my coat.

“Oh, no! As you can see, this case is not yet… finished.” I said as I looked at the man in front of me. Was it just me or did he look tired? I shrugged my shoulders before I pointed at something in his hands. It was a trident. Only a small one, of a dark red colour. The points looked lethal. I raised my eyebrow when I saw the weapon.

“What the hell is that?” I asked, pointing at the weapon in John’s hands. He nodded and showed me the lethal piece of metal. I looked at it. It wasn’t anything special. The pastor said that this was the weapon used to kill the unfortunate Amelia. I raised my left eyebrow, keeping the red stains in the cloth earlier in mind. I looked at the points while asking some questions.

“So you are perfectly certain that this is the weapon found at the most recent crime scene?” The pastor nodded.

“Yes, One hundred percent!” He said proudly.

“And you are absolutely sure this weapon was used in the murder?” I asked again, my hand slowly covering up my chin and mouth, like I was thinking about something.

“Yes, I am definitely certain!” The pastor answered proudly. I snickered inside myself. I closed my eyes and looked at the points from the front. They were all straight. I smiled and one single word echoed in my mind.

Gotcha.


End file.
